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The European Low Fares Airline Association is planning a legal challenge against the partial suspension of the European Union emissions-trading scheme. "The only solution we see is to extend the moratorium to all flights and to maintain the pressure on ICAO to achieve something by end of this year," said John Hanlon, secretary general of the association.

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In 2008, the European Union determined that all flights into and out of European airports should be included within its emissions-trading scheme (ETS), beginning in 2012, which drew opposition from countries including the U.S., China and Russia, which believe the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the appropriate assembly for making any decisions on reducing global airline emissions. Nancy Young, vice president for environmental affairs at A4A, called the EU ETS "bad news for customers, airlines and, ironically, the environment. It is quite simply an exorbitant, extraterritorial cash grab for financially troubled European countries, which under the law can use the money however they see fit.” The European Union said it could alter its ETS to only cover flights by member nations. "If we get a global deal we’ll amend the law," according to spokesman Isaac Valero-Ladron. "Our focus is on getting an ambitious global deal." ICAO is meeting this month to discuss the issue.

The International Civil Aviation Organization will hold a second meeting at the end of the month to weigh options to curb global airline emissions. The United Nations organization will consider alternatives to the European Union's emissions-trading scheme.

A committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations body that oversees global aviation, has agreed on a CO2 metric to use for global emissions. European Union officials plan to meet with ICAO today for talks on global emissions and the EU emissions-trading scheme. "The EU is very committed, totally committed, to reaching an agreement that fully respects the conditions that we have put forward," said European Union Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen.

A U.S. official says the European Union's emissions-trading scheme is a challenge to the International Civil Aviation Organization. "The way to resolve this is for all countries to get together at ICAO and find a solution that is agreeable," said Krishna Urs, deputy assistant secretary for transportation affairs at the State Department. "If we have separate rules that proliferate around the world, then there are real implications and problems for aviation around the world."

A European Union official says that countries opposed to the emissions-trading scheme should discuss concerns with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the U.N. aviation agency. "It's one thing that they do not like what Europe is doing. What can they agree to in ICAO? It will be very interesting for us to see that next step," EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said.